1. Field
The present invention relates generally to robotics and, more specifically, to wireless controllers for robots, such as competition and educational robots.
2. Description of the Related Art
As computational power increases and the quality of sensors and actuators improve, society is becoming increasingly reliant upon autonomous and semiautonomous robots, such as electromechanical and pneumatic machines guided by computer programs. As a result of these trends, robots are expected to undertake an increasing number of mundane, dangerous, or otherwise undesirable tasks for human beings, particularly as the cost of such machines decreases.
In view of the increasing role of robots, and the related need for more science, technology, engineering, and math graduates, a number of public and private organizations strive to train and engage the next generation of technically-inclined students who will program and develop such robots. As part of this effort, it is increasingly common to teach people how to design, program, and operate robots with educational robots and robotics competitions. In one prominent example, an organization named FIRST organizes robotics competitions and promulgates rules for the same. Competing teams include grade school or high school students who design and program robots that compete to achieve various objectives. Generally, during a competition, a given team has a human operating a user interface, such as a hand-held game controller, which is coupled to a laptop computer that wirelessly sends commands to a robot designed or (i.e., and/or) programed by the team.
Existing hardware typically used in competitions is deficient in a number of respects. Using a laptop computer as the interface between the hand-held game controller and the robot presents a number of problems relating to cost, complexity, and reliability. For example, laptop computers are relatively expensive compared to the budgets with which robotics teams operate, particularly in underprivileged communities, thereby deterring some schools from adding a robotics training program. Additionally, laptop computers are relatively large and heavy, occupying scarce space allotted to a team within a classroom, workshop, or competition environment. Laptop computers are also unreliable for competitions, as such computers are relatively fragile and complex systems with a large number of settings, software updates, and interacting programs and components that can interact in an unpredictable fashion, particularly during a competition, thereby interfering with a team's performance. In particular, wireless connections provided by laptops are relatively complex to configure and maintain over time, in part because laptops are designed to accommodate many other use cases that require a relatively large number of user configurable settings be exposed, some of which can interfere with a wireless connection in a non-intuitive fashion. Finally, laptops are power-hungry devices that consume a relatively large amount of electrical power to perform tasks unrelated to controlling a robot, e.g., running an operating system and maintaining unneeded network connections, peripherals, and background processes. Such power consumption can require large batteries that add bulk to a team's equipment and present another failure mode in the event that the battery is exhausted during the competition.